Dorrit Black, Grace Cossington Smith and Grace Crowley were some of many talented modernist women artists. But only with the advent of second wave feminism in the 1970s was their work properly acknowledged.

Visitors look at Blue poles (1952) during its trip to London for an abstract expressionism exhibition in 2016.
Andy Rains/EPA
September 12, 2018

TV shows such as Versailles and Reign dwell on sex. But the French royals were preoccupied with life's intimate moments, from bodily emissions to the crowds that gathered to watch the queen give birth.

Australia’s librarians are a vital component of our research institutions.
Shutterstock
December 14, 2016

The research libraries attached to Australia's art galleries are one of the nation's great cultural assets. But the National Gallery of Australia's library is losing crucial staff as 'efficiency dividends' hit home.

The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace.
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
December 8, 2016

Donald Trump has a Versailles-inspired apartment. There's a popular TV series and now, a new exhibition of treasures from the palace. A glittering symbol of aristocratic frivolity, Versailles was, in fact, a place of awesome royal power.

Mike Parr’s performance work ‘Jackson Pollock the female’ is part homage and part sabotage.
National Gallery of Australia
September 11, 2016

Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles is one of Australia's most famous cultural acquisitions. When Mike Parr lay supine before it, streaked with his own blood, he offered a new way of looking at the act of painting.

Tom Roberts is an iconic Australian artist. Who does that icon represent?
Opening of the first parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 9 May 1901, Tom Roberts, 1903. Courtesy of the NGA.
December 1, 2015

James Turrell is a veteran Californian artist who throughout a career spanning almost half a century has employed light as a vehicle through which to manipulate the viewer’s perception of space. The Turrell…

Not for the first time Britain and Australia are at loggerheads over cultural heritage. At issue this time are two images of genuine historical significance to both countries: Kongouro from New Holland…